This is not just true of the corporate world; it’s also true of relationships. People are constantly changing, trying to better themselves or their lives or their jobs.

People embrace change — as long as it’s the right type of change. It needs to be change that they own, change that they think/feel is productive, change that they view as a positive.

If you find people resistant to changes you’re trying to impose, chances are, it’s not “change” they’re resisting, but your particular choices. Identifying a common goal and then allowing the other person to come up with a solution is often a far better approach than declaring a solution someone else must implement.

Basically, people aren’t slaves. If you want a significant change in their daily lives, involve them rather than dictate to them. I’d like to say this is so well known and obvious that it’s absurd to write an article on it, but seeing the corporate behavior and especially HR that I do, it’s not.

Here’s the reality of it. People don’t mind change – they just hate being forced to change. If positioned correctly – and the employee is involved in the change – it is much less difficult to drive change. But normally what happens is decisions are made in mahogany-paneled boardrooms and passed down to the masses. “Do this and things will get better.” Too often the employees already know what change is required. They do the job every day. They know the flaws in the system. They

know

know all about the pointless and inefficient processes they are forced to live with each day. Just ask them.

A huge driver of employee engagement is a psychological principle called “locus of control” – the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Increasing your employees’ belief (and reality) that they have control over the outcomes will increase their desire to make changes and increase their engagement with the change.

Don’t take HR’s word for it… Your people aren’t afraid of change – they’re afraid of you trying to change them!